So, basking in the warmth of my first successful Camembert make, I proceeded to make another batch. Right out of the gate I blew it. I wasn't paying attention closely enough, and instead of addig 1/8 tsp Penicillium candidum, I grabbed the wrong packet and added 1/8 tsp Geotricum. A minute later, I realized my mistake and tried to scoop it out of the pot (I generally leave everything on the top to rehydrate for a couple of minute), but I doubt that I got nearly enough out.

I routinely add a pinch of geo (1/16 tsp) to my goat milk cam's, so you should be safe. Did you eventually add the pen. cad to the batch as well? You might have to keep an eye on it when it starts to age so the geo doesn't overwhelm the pc.

Bonnie

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Proper salting will keep the geo at bay. There is another post I just read somewhere that explained it all, but honestly I'm new nuff I don't know how to share it. I never have a problem. I get a beautiful bloom. Bald spots are the geo taking over, but salting it said keeps it from doing that

Joy, the Geo is creamy color, sleek and velvety when it shows up. It usually shows up before the PC and prepares the surface for stronger PC growth.

The Geo is slimy, wet; the PC is stark white and dry. They never fail to show up.

If you see that the PC recedes and creamy color reveals from underneath it, that is a sign that the Geo growth more than the PC. It should naturally happen later in the aging process (unless you made a thick fluffy white PC rind which isn't considered very good), but if it happens early on and you smell the beginning of ammonia, that means that the Geo is taking over. Reduce temperature and humidity if you want to slow down the Geo and accelerate the PC. Do the opposite if you get too much thick fluffy PC and you can't see the Geo.

There's a delicate balancing act around salting. If you salt too much you'll end up with salty cheese as I did a few times. The good news is that it still tastes good if you put it on bread or non-salty crackers.

58°F is quite high, you want to be in the 52°-54° range. Sounds like a small difference but it makes a big impact. If it's liquidy and ammoniated than you probably "over-cooked" it. You should rapidly respond by cooling and drying it. These are not the types of cheese that are supposed to be liquidy AT ALL.

By the way, over-salting a cheese doesn't just make it salty; it makes it very dry and more importantly - it kills the Geo and PC.

No. It may look Camembert-ish but geo is a key in Camembert. Camembert without it is like ketchup without sugar or a brand new car that came unpainted... You will get little or no paste processing, coloring or maturation. Poor aromatic properties. The rind will be fluffy, dray and stark white. It will also take longer for the PC to work because the Geo de-acidifies the surface for the PC. It's tricky to master but that's the craft of cheesemaking - growing all those microbes and directing them precisely to create texture, colors, aromas and flavors. Just practice it a few times and you will get this down.